By John
Warburg: Eire Apparent was formed as The
People in early 1967, in Blackpool by Ernie Graham, Chris Stewart,
Henry McCullough and Dave Lutton. Apart from McCullough, all were
former members of Tony & The Telstars. McCullough had cut his teeth
in two showbands, The Skyrockets and Gene & The Gents.

By the early summer the band had
gone to back to Ireland - to Dublin this time, where the local scene
had eventually taken off. Such was the difference in their music
that within 3 months they were voted top local band. The scene was
still small though and by spring of 1967 it was time to move again.
This time they went straight to London - and starved again, living
in a van parked in Camden Town. The bands fortunes changed in the
early summer when they ran into their ex-manager Dave Robinson, who
promised to get them a couple of gigs.

These were the Speakeasy Club and more importantly
the UFO Club, the same night as Procol Harum, coming on after them.
They soon ha about six of the top British managers knocking at their
dressing room door say not to sign to anyone until you have spoken
to them. In the end they were signed up within 24 hours by Mike
Jeffery, who along with Chas Chandler (former bass-player with
The Animals)
were the managers of Jimi Hendrix and The Soft Machine. The band
then changed their name again - Jeffrey wanted to exploit their
Irish dimension and his wife came up with the new name - Eire
Apparent.

In short order the band were doing prestigious supports at the
Saville Theatre in London and Olympia in Paris and on Tues
14.11.1967 they joined what amounted to be the last great UK package
tour with The Move, The Pink Floyd, The Nice, Amen Corner, The Outer
Limits and, of course, Hendrix himself. This was The Jimi Hendrix
Tour, their second proper UK tour. Opening night was at The
Alchemical Wedding, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, West London
followed by The Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, Dorset, The City Hall,
Sheffield, The Empire Theatre, Liverpool, The Coventry Theatre,
Coventry, Guildhall, Portsmouth, The Sophia Gardens Pavilion,
Cardiff, Glamorgan, South Wales; on Frid 24.11.1967, at Colston
Hall, Bristol, Somerset; on Sat 25.11.1967, at The Opera House,
Blackpool, The Palace Theatre, Manchester, The Whitla Hall, Queens
College, Belfast. On Tues 28.11.1967, The Hendrix tour flew from
Belfast to Gatwick. The tour continued at The Central Hall, Chatham,
The Dome Brighton, Sussex, The Theatre Royal, Nottingham, City Hall,
Newcastle, Green's Playhouse, Glasgow, (the final date of The
Hendrix' second proper UK Tour). . . . .
continued further down this page

Things started to look really good for Eire
Apparent and at the end of the tour the band went into the studio
and cut their debut single for Track Records, 'Follow Me' / 'Here I
Go Again' (Truck 604 019, Jan 1968). This was a non-hit, but 1968
proved to be their most successful year. At the beginning of Feb
they flew to the States, basically as support to either Hendrix or
Eric Burdon and the Animals. Their first gig was at The Anaheim
Convention Centre, Anaheim, California, with both acts and The Soft
Machine. Subsequently they toured with The Animals up until the end
of May. Although technically the support, they built up a solid
following playing to huge audiences and making a substantial amount
of money.

They returned to Europe - briefly - to play at the riot torn Beat
Monster Festival, in Zurich before heading back to the States and
eventually joining up with Hendrix at the Atlanta Municipal
Auditorium on the 17th of Aug 1968, and playing with him and The
Soft Machine. They went onto play on most of his subsequent gigs
until late Sep 1968 (not middle of Oct as stated in the Eire
Apparent CD). Other gigs were at Curtis Hixton Hall, Tampa, Florida,
The Mosque, Richmond, Virginia, The Civic Dome, Virginia Beach,
California, The Bushnell Memorial, Hartford, Connecticut, Kennedy
Stadium, Bridgeport, Connecticut, The Red Rocks Park, Denver,
Colorado. The next day Hendrix and his band The Experience, plus
Eire Apparent toured the mountains around Denver. More Hendrix /
Eire Apparent / Vanilla Fudge / The Soft Machine gigs were at The
Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California, The Memorial Coliseum,
Phoenix, Arizona and The Coliseum, Seattle, Washington.

Then something bad happened to the band, unfortunately at their next
gig at The Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada on Sat 7th Sept 1968,
Henry McCullough was busted and basically had to leave the country
to avoid doing time, but the others wanted to stay on, so
effectively he had to quit the band. McCullough found his feet quick
enough, joining up with Sweeney's Men, Joe Cocker and the Grease
Band, Oct 1968 - Feb 1970, The Grease Band, Jun 1970 - Dec 1971,
Paul McCartney's Wings, Jan 1972 - Jul 1973, The Joe Cocker Band,
Jul - Aug 1974 and Frankie Miller. His replacement in Eire Apparent
was taken by Mick Cox (ex The End, Alleykatz), who was flown out
from England immediately. Other gigs Eire Apparent did on the
Hendrix were at The Coliseum, Spokane, Washington, Oakland Coliseum,
California and The Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California. This
it the last gig I can find that Eire Apparent played on the Hendrix
US tour.

Amazing photo of members of Eire Apparent
and David Tiger Taylor with Jimi Hendrix - thanks Tiger!

At the end of Oct 1968 Eire Apparent recorded the bulk of their
debut album at TTG in Los Angeles, California. On Wed 30.10.1968, at
Sunset-Highland Studios, Los Angeles, California, the band recorded
'Let Me Stay' (Cox), 'Magic Carpet' (Graham), 'Morning Glory' (Cox),
'Mr Guy Fawkes' (Cox) and 'Yes I Need Someone' (Stewart/Graham / M
Cox / D Lutton), while 'Captive In The Sun' (M Cox), and 'The Clown'
(Stewart) (Hendrix added extra magic to this track) which were
recorded on Wed 30.10.1968, also at Sunset-Highland Studios, plus
'Rock 'N' Roll Band' (Taylor/Graham) recorded on 5.1.1969, at
Polydor Studios, London, all with Jimi Hendrix on guitar. This last
session was produced by Carlos Olms. In fact he appeared on all the
tracks ('Someone Is Sure To (Want You)' (E Graham), except for 'Got
To Get Away' (Graham) and '1026' (Graham/Stewart) (produced by Jack
Hunt). Hendrix also produced the group's solo album, called Sun Rise
(Sunrise) (Buddah 203 021, 1969), which was a crafted blend of pop
and neo-psychedelia. Hendrix had produced and played on their album
as a consequence of Eire Apparent touring with him in the States.

Eire Apparent's association with Hendrix, Jeffrey and Chandler was
starting to draw to an end. Basically the band felt they could no
longer rely on Jeffrey to find them gigs in the States. Their final
involvement was as support on part of the Experience's European in
Germany in Jan 1969. The gigs were at The Musikhalle, Hamburg,
Germany; The Rheinhalle, Dusseldorf; The Halle Munsterland, Munster,
The Deutsches Museum, Munich, The Meistersinghalle, Nuremburg, The
Jahrunderhalle, Frankfurt, The Liederhalle, Stuttgart, The Wacken
Halle, Strasbourg, The Konzerthaus, Vienna and The Sportpalast,
Berlin.

Mick Cox was replaced by Tiger Taylor on lead guitar in Jan 1969.
Most of 1969 was spent slogging round the English clubs and
universities, trying to re-establish themselves in a country that
had largely forgotten them. It was to prove an uphill task. In April
1969 the band recorded three tracks for a Top Gear session, 'Yes I
Need Someone,' 'Highway 61' and 'Gloria.' Peter Tolson was a short
time member just before they called it a day at the end of the year,
finally having given up. Eire Apparent also released another single
Rock 'N' Roll Band' / 'Yes I Need Someone' (Buddah 201 039, 1969).
Singer Graham later joined, Clancy, Help Yourself, Aug - Nov 1971,
and then recorded a solo album backed by Brinsley Schwatz. Drummer
Lutton was later in T-Rex, Jan - Dec 1974, Jan 1975 - Aug 1976, Nov
1976 - Sep 1977 and Stewart was later in Poco, while Tilson went to
The Pretty Things, Nov 1971 - Jun 1976, and Metropolis, Jun 1976 -
Dec 1977.